Thursday, April 7, 2011

Days before our trip to Portland, Wandering Chopsticks found an article from Travel+Leisure for the top ten pies in the US, listing Portland’s Random Order Coffeehouse for their vanilla salted caramel apple pie. We just had to go.

Random Order is a small coffee shop on cute Alberta street, very much like a neighborhood joint. On our first visit after “hiking” the waterfalls, we got three slices of pie and some tea.

Of course, we had to get their award winning vanilla salted caramel apple pie. The filling is caramel apple and the crust is a vanilla sugar-salted crust.
I’m not a huge apple pie fan, but I have to say this was very good, especially the flaky crust. Random Order makes pretty much everything from scratch, including their crust, cream, and whipped cream.

The Flirty Berry was even better for me, filled with blueberries and blackberries.

Our favorite though was the banana cream pie.

We loved the silky cream, the banana:cream ratio, and the crust. Wandering Chopsticks says this was the best banana cream pie she’s ever had. That’s why we had to go back the day before we left Portland, joined by WC's cousin and Blazing Hot Wok.

Earl Grey tea to wash things down.

On our second visit we went crazy and ordered, well, everything else we haven’t had.

They have three savory pies but they were out of the chicken pot pie this time, so we got the Catalan Vegetable pie and the Chipotle Pork pie.

Both were great, nicely warmed up in the oven so the crust is nice and flaky. I preferred the hearty vegetable pie filled with sweet potato, onion, and other root vegetables.

So that was “lunch” ... and then came desserts.

I had my eye on the brandied peach pie and this time I decided to try their whipped cream.

I wasn’t disappointed. WC said the brandy was strong, but I guess I prefer it that way.

The coconut cream pie was Blazing Hot Wok’s favorite. The chocolate cream pie I can pass on – chocolate is better in cakes!

Another good one: Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie

The Shaker Lemon pie was filled with candied lemon rinds, but there was no bitterness to it. I really enjoyed this too.

So, after tasting almost everything they had (yes we got the banana cream pie again), I can’t wait to go back. I’m stopping here on all my visits to Portland from now on! Get on their free wifi, sip tea, eat a slice of pie (or four). Perfect afternoon.

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comments:

Must remember this place when I get myself to Portland (really want to visit in the next year). I want to try everything! Also, my favorite pie is probably apple, so will definitely have to give the vanilla salted caramel apple a whirl.